For followers of PS Audio the opposite side of the coin is their attempts at producing and marketing their new hybrid speaker. For the last three years or so they have shown us, via YouTube, a number of prototypes of this speaker. They have publicly displayed at shows, giving viewing audiences glimpses of the product in its various guises. The looks and demonstration reviews were broadcast both through their website and YouTube. Personally I gave up waiting and spent my speaker upgrade funds on a another brand; but I do admire the approachā¦
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Oh yes, thats right, PS Audio is one of those (rare?) companies that likes to talk about future products long before theyāre available.
In the case of the āANā Speakers, since they donāt have an existing speaker line, theyāre not going to impact/cannibalise sales by talking about the new Speakers.
But I honestly donāt understand the logic of openly discussing their supposed flagship 2-chassis āTSS DACā which has been missing-in-action for well over 3Ā½ years now, only to preempt it with a Mk2 of the current DirectStream DAC instead 
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As I said earlier:
ādCS are not likely to announce a new product before they can ensure a proper launch schedule, otherwise it just produces frustration amongst their potential customers.ā
And you have experienced just that with PS Audio and moved your money elsewhere.
It has a negative effect when announced products do not appear on time and effectively become vapourware in the minds of potential customers.
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I was more thinking of a newsletter from the CEO would be on its place from time to time, because it is hard to live on old merits, and that includes also companies like Apple etcā¦
There actually is a sign up available via the dCS website for newsletters. Although earlier attempts seem to have failed ( I recall getting one in 2011 
), the most recent invitation to subscribe coincided with the new website and dCS Edit. This has produced results with the most recent notification relating to their latest video on Mercury Living Presence. This was received by me on 1st November.
I think they can do better, to maintain hype, but is up to them self
Wilson Audio has been doing a good job of teasing their new speakers recently. In addition most dealers have the new product in their stores on release date.
I think most on this forum would agree dCS are the best in the business at what they do, so itās not surprising being a technology business, that they follow an āAppleā approach to announcing new products. Namely they keep schtum until they are absolutely ready. They invest a lot in their development and they donāt want orders on existing inventory drying up in anticipation of a new product that might be a year away.
That being said I think they could dramatically improve their customer interaction. I recently wrote to them to investigate buying a new box for a piece of my kit that had unfortunately got damp due to a small water leak. I wrote three times over two months to the address on their website before I got any reply. Got it sorted in the end but it was a painful process (and expensive!). So being a bit more communicative would be nice. Top brands recognise the importance of ārewardingā their existing customers for their custom and loyalty and in so doing reinforcing all their customersā commitment to them. Most advertising of luxury brands is as much about that as it is about selling new stuff. Our friends at dCS might be wise to take a leaf out of that book.
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Yes, the number of complaints on this forum about failure or delay in responding to email enquiries is sufficient for the management at dCS to take notice and improve things.
I am not surprised at your feeling that a replacement box was expensive. I would guess most people donāt think much about packaging as it doesnāt attract much attention so its cost may come as a surprise. Packaging of design and construction rugged enough to protect heavy and delicate objects during international shipping is a significant cost to the manufacturer. At one point dCS even tried using flight cases so that might give some idea of the general area of cost involved.
I think they could interact and reach out more with the customers and maintain the customers and also let new customers interesting about the brand, but is often dead quiet from the CEO and his staff.
A newsletter a inside glimpse on something interesting or a teaser pic of like an zoomed in part like carmakers often do to create a buzz and interest.
That is key in my opinion.
Wellā¦They interacted with me today 
ā¦It is not because it is me of course, I think they interact when they think that saying nothing could lead to a misuse or not optimal use of their products.
In a word they interact to Support and not to Sell or to Market.
As a customer, for me, the most important is Support.
Very reasonable answer
Considering current situation and products in the market, ideal would be to redesign Vivaldi eliminate need for an external master/word clock. Combine upsampler and transport to create a new matching transport. This can be a new model above Vivaldi. dCS has to reduce number of boxes and to maximize profitability modularize. Customers can choose what modules to buy and there may be an upgrade path. Software can still be free upgrades.
You mean like Vivaldi but everything in a single box? Surely dCS would never come up with such a thing ? Oh, wait a minuteā¦
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Disagree.
On a cash basis, I would be pretty sure that the Vivaldi is the most profitable in the lineup. On an income basis, it depends on how dCS amortizes its R&D, as dCS uses the trickle down approach, letting some innovations in the top line (Vivaldi) flow into the middle (Rossini) and ālowerā (Bartok) tiers.
Iām a huge fan of dCS. I just wish they would take a stand on MQA and help kill in. Just sayināā¦ ; )
@PAR - Pete, I remember the frustration we experienced waiting for dCS to be MQA certified. Funny to think that if Qobuz was introduced a bit earlier, most of us wouldnāt have even noticed if dCS supported MQA.
Weāve made such huge & rapid advancements in digital source equipment from the early days of digital with Gordon Rankinās Wavelength products. Is it possible that the boys that design and build the digital front ends have run short of ideas to improve the SQ?
I admit I still havenāt purchased a clock to mate with my Rossini as Iāve heard many dCS users say to first focus on the power cable. So I did just that and replaced a Synergistics Element CTS cable with a Shunyata Omega QR-S cable. I couldnāt believe the improvement. Iām not pitching Shunyata. Iām merely saying that the quality of the power cable seemed to matter more to the Rossini than my Gryphon Antileon EVO amp or Gryphon Pandora preamp.
@ChrisK - as Iām still on the fence re: adding a clock, Iām interested in what you meant by saying āmaybe dCS should be selling a clock which does not need to be improved by a non dCS product would be a bright ideaā. Can you elaborate on this?
Hi
I think what @ChrisK was referring to is that dCS has published that the Vivaldi clock can be further improved by adding an ultra accurate reference clock, which they donāt manufacturer, as I believe @PaleRider has doneā¦
This is at the ultra top end, and out of my league (though I am admiring Peteās system from afar!)
Cheers!
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Hi,
Most people after they bought a dCS Vivaldi clock want to improve the result adding a word clock. As dVS does not sell such a product they buy it elsewhere.
So my suggestion was to build a dCS clock (even in the Vivaldi box) that is so good that adding a word click would be completely useless.
A Vivaldi 3.0 clock. And of course owners of a Vivaldi 2.0 clock would have the possibility buying the upgradeā¦
Thanks @ChrisK and @keiserrg
A friend recently added a Taiko Extreme music server and said the SQ upgrade was impressive. Thereās a rather complete review of the Taiko Extreme here, https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/2020/05/26/audiophile-style-extreme-5-part-review-series-sgm-extreme/
Iām guessing many of you out there may have added a music server to your system. Most of my listening is via Qobuz. Do music servers also improve the sound of music subscriptions such as Qobuz? Iām guessing I would use the Taiko as the music streamer to bypass the Rossini streamer and go from the music server to the Rossini DAC via USB. Is that correct?
No a music server per se only handles local files ( I am distinguishing between server and streamer here) . In the case of dCS, Mosaic is what provides the internet link to Qobuz. Although I have a Melco that is used as my server the internet connection is really just a pass through from the router. Of course if I used Melcoās function as a USB streamer ( as can the Taiko), then it would provide Qobuz via its own dedicated control app. However that would entail a USB rather than network connection to Vivaldi which would be retrograde.
However I did find that that adding the Melco S100 network switch made a significant improvement to Qobuz SQ affecting timbre, dynamics and soundstaging. I realise this is controversial but I was persuaded to purchase the S100 via a demonstration of it here in my own system within about 4 seconds - it was that obvious even given the supplied SMPS.
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